I have just finished reading the excellent free
Project Gutenberg e-book,
The True Benjamin Franklin by Sydney George Fisher. I fully expected it to be a thorough biography of this extraordinary man, but in fact it's much more than that. I particularly enjoyed the fascinating insight that it provides into 18th century life in the colonies, England and France. Whilst I already had a somewhat sketchy knowledge of this period, this book acted as a lightning rod, aiding my understanding of what really happened during those stormy times. I love books that bring history alive like this. Definitely a very memorable book (for someone who has lived in the US, UK and France), though it did leave me wondering how many Americans - those who are so fond of railing against the French - have read it.
I am now reading
The A-Z of Punishment and Torture by Irene Thompson. I received this DRM-free e-book as a gift from
BeWrite Books, as part of the generous promotion that
Neil Marr ran here at MR, recently. The first thing that I looked up was Water Boarding. Man's inhumanity to Man is both fascinating and terrifying, consequently this book is both gripping and thought provoking. A must-read for anyone interested in the work of
Amnesty International and human rights abuses - not just the history of human "civilisation", from ancient times to present day. The graphic nature of the subject in this rather ghoulish book is brought to life with superb illustrations by Catherine Edmunds.